Buying a pad in North Cyprus 3
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Part
3; March 2008
I
think I am going to like living in North Cyprus, there is a certain
element of comedy in the politics. When you've read some of the
comments below you might think they can't organise a booze-up in a
brewery but I could not possibly comment.!
In touch
with the people?
Some of background events make interesting comment
before talking about progress on the apartment. All of these
illustrate life in North Cyprus. The first is a bit of trivia but the
second, regarding contracts, is especially important to us and other
property buyers.
Powers
that be announced that supermarkets will close on Sundays to give the
small traders more business. No white paper, no lengthy consultation, a
straight forward decision but, of course, the supermarkets
protested. The result was a compromise allowing supermarkets
to open half a day on a Sunday provided they closed half a day on
Wednesday. Relying on the confusion principle, supermarkets simply
opened all day Sunday and all day Wednesday. Not good enough declared
the government, you shall close on Sunday! So they closed for one
Sunday to watch all the trade go south over the border. The order was
promptly scrapped and it is back to as you were with supermarkets open
all Sunday.
At
least you can still buy Kolokas, that unusual Cypriot vegetable on a
Sunday!
Contracts
The second comedy sketch related to a more serious
matter: registration of contracts for property purchase, either new
contracts or ongoing contracts where the property is not yet finished.
It takes some years for the deeds to be issue, usually a couple of
years after taking possession. The building boom started around 2004
and the faults in the system which prevent ownership have been emerging
steadily. There are many, solicitors failing to collect and pay the
0.5% of purchase price stamp duty rendering the sales agreement
worthless, builders not having permission to build and so it goes on.
There is a full account on the web site of the Home Buyers Pressure Group.
A new law to protect home buyers came into effect on Jan 1st 2008. This
required all contracts to be registered, stamp duty paid, and logged
with all other necessary documents with the Land Registry. The deadline
for this was March 31st or else there would be a further 1% penalty but
since the requirements were not fully clarified until early March,
there was a great rush to register contracts. So great was the rush
that the system failed to cope, panic set in and the deadline duly
extended until April 30th. Fortunately, our builder, Kavanlar, alerted
us to the new requirements and pressed us to do it to ensure our
contract was legally registered.
We
were pleased with the progress made on our apartment.
The
floors had been tiled which suddenly made the apartment look so much
bigger, the bathroom and the en-suite walls had also been tiled but our
faces dropped! The border tiles, intended for just less than half way
up the walls, in both these rooms had been missed out. Contact with the
builder established that the border tiles of our choice had been
ordered but the shop had failed to send them. He assured us that it
would be put right. True to his word, the border was inserted just a
couple of weeks later (above). All the electrics were in place
including the fuse box, all the windows were in and internal doors were
work in progress.
Balcony rails had been fitted and rails to the internal
stairs. Just as important is the outside work since, the
sewers, the water supply and electricity are all installed at the end
of the building process and not at the beginning. It was good to see
trenches around the site with all these services being installed. Only
when these are finished can the roads be laid. The swimming pool
construction too was heading towards completion. The builder indicated
a completion by June and it does look possible but we are looking
towards completion in
September/October.
Right:
View of phase 2 March 2008
Electricity meters
This is another problem which illustrates topsy-turvy
life in North Cyprus. New electricity meters ran out stock sometime
towards the end of 2007. Previously they had been purchased from the UK
but a change of supplier was on the cards for some reason but, as yet,
no decision has been taken and none ordered. This is causing
considerable inconvenience to all new owners waiting to take possession
of their property. They can move in if they accept a direct electrical
connection and agree to pay a fixed sum each month. Good if you are
planning permanent residence, not good for part time occupation. At the
moment there is a growing body of frustrated owners awaiting meters
and unable to get into their property.
How do we rate the
builder at this stage?
So far we are impressed. When the border tiles had
been missed out in the bathrooms he instantly assured us he would put
it right and he did. Completion dates are a different issue. Some
buyers think they are still in the UK and expect reasonable accuracy.
We have lived in Greece and in Turkey and are perhaps more familiar
with the laid back approach. We had no expectations on the completion
dates and have always told our friends that the apartment will be ready
when it is ready.
So no disappointment there. The more we see of other buildings the more
we
are impressed with ours. Look at the water tanks on the roof of our
apartments in the above pictures. They are barely visible. They can be
seen from some angles but they are largely hidden by a parapet. Look at
the picture of some nearby apartments. The roof tanks are fully
displayed and looking ugly and so are the lower tanks. With our
apartments the lower tanks are sunk out of sight.
A great investment
opportunity?
A major event,
maybe an historic event, unfolded while we were there. Following the
election of a new president in South Cyprus, there was a renewed
impetus to restart talks leading to a settlement. Talks have indeed
restarted with a determination on both sides to reach an early
conclusion, possibly by the end of 2008. If agreement is reached or if
North Cyprus achieves international recognition, there is a real
possibility that house prices will jump significantly, possibly 200% or
300% . Where else in the Mediterranean can you buy a spacious three
bedroom apartment, master bedroom en-suite, with a view of the sea and
the mountains for £55,000 (now £58,000)? We bought ours for a second
home, not particularly for capital gains although there is always a
reasonable expectation of gain over the years.
May 2008
We decided to return to North Cyprus rather
sooner than we had anticipated but it was good timing for checking on
progress. To be honest, phase 2 had moved on and made more progress
that we had expected. The outside of the blocks were being painted and
the biggest surprise was the colour. We, like others, had thought
Kavanlar would continue with the yellow colour used for phase 1 so were
surprised to find them painted green.
It is an attractive colour and we are well pleased.
Apparently, each phase will be a different colour but always a soft,
pastel colour the builder assures us.
Good progress had been made laying out the footpaths
across the centre, with the public lighting and with the swimming
pool. Internally too, the apartments had progressed well with
the kitchens fitted out, the front doors fitted and the electrics in
their final finishing off stage, almost ready for testing. Only the
bathroom fittings remain.
Electricity meters
This particular piece of N Cyprus nonsense seems to
have been sorted and meters are available. As a consequence, it has now
been possible to fill the pool in phase 1 ready for the summer. Phase 1
residents will be relieved and thrilled, no doubt.
The next visit is planned for September/October when
we hope to take possession. We have the completion process to look
forward to, the final inspection, ironing out the snags, paying the
final instalment, getting the keys, the electricity and water meters
and moving in. It all sounds very simple but I'm sure there will be
hurdles to jump and plenty of the unexpected.
Just out of interest, we went on to look at different
Kavanlar properties in different locations with half a thought that we
might be under invested. More later...
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